"Leila, come down here, please!" Leila's mother's voice called out from downstairs.

Leila closed Beedle and the Bard for the third time. She got up and placed the book on her white nightstand (it matched her dresser and her pale blue walls. The ceiling had an angle to it as it was where the roof slanted). It was nearing the last few weeks of summer and that meant school was starting. Leila was excited to see all her friends she hadn't seen over the summer and was excited to start classes again. But with it nearing the end of summer it also meant that she had nothing to do. Majority of the week she had been rereading Beedle and the Bard and Grimm's fairy tales. She even spent time with Simon, running around at the local park. Today, however, was a slow day, so she sat in her room reading Beedle and the Bard once again. Leila was one of those girls who never to bored of reading the same book over and over again.

Outside in the upstairs hall Leila stood at the railing looking down at her mom. "Yes, Mum?"

"Mrs. Mcewan is here for a quick meeting for work and she brought Ben. Do you think you can keep him company?" Mrs. Monroe asked with a smile.

"Sure," Leila said, making her way downstairs.

In the living room she found her mother sitting on the couch with Mrs. McEwan. Papers were spread out on the coffee table as the women rifled through them. Then on the blue fabric armchair was Ben slumped in it looking rather bored as the women talked. He looked up as Leila walked in the room and his face lit up.

"Hi, Leila!" he said, standing up out if the chair. "Long time no see. How have you been?"

Leila was a little taken aback by his eager attitude as he bounded up to her, but she had to guess he was just grateful to have someone to talk with rather than listen to the two women work. He was also a typical nine year old boy who was eager about anything.

The blonde girl gave a soft smile to the younger boy. "I-I'm doing well. How about you?"

"Pretty fun! How's your summer been?" he asked as he and her walked out of the room.

Leila led him outside to their front porch where there were a few white rocking chairs that were rocking back and forth slightly due to the light breeze. Leila took a seat in one while Ben took the chair next to her. "M-my um summer's been g-good. It's been um boring now th-that it's near the end."

"Of course," he said. "You excited to start school? I don't think I've ever seen you at my school. Where do you go?"

"I uh...um I go to...," Leila stuttered. How was she supposed to tell him that she goes to a school for witches and wizards? She can't that's how. But what was she supposed to say? Her mind was completely blank as she searched her brain for an answer to Ben's question. "I um go to Darington Academy of Fine Arts..."

"Fine Arts huh? What do you do?"

"Um I uh...can draw," Leila said, hesitating in the answer.

It wasn't a lie, she does like to draw. She's just never told anyone. Thorn and the twins don't even know that about her. Leila knew that if she said she liked to draw and paint people would ask to see some drawings and she didn't want people to judge how well she could draw. That was why she usually drew in the library, the Hufflepuff common room, or on her bed when she was alone.

"Really? That's fantastic. You must be good to get into Darington. Maybe you could show me some of your work one day," Ben said, smiling widely at Leila.

"I um I-I don't know...," she said, looking anywhere, but at the blonde boy next to her.

"That's fine. Not everyone likes to show their stuff. I understand," he said with a kind look on his face.

Leila couldn't help but smile back. Ben was an understanding person who didn't seem to push subjects a lot. He was also nice and easy to talk with, even if Leila barely spoke, but he was easy to hang around with. She was glad to at least have one friend back home while she was on break. She couldn't think of the last time she saw her old friends from school.

"Hey, I have an idea! Let's play the random question game," he said, his eyes shining brightly. His eagerness was coming back in full swing now.

"W-what's the random question game?" Leila asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"It's easy, don't worry. All you do is ask a question, any question, and the other person answers. After they've answered you answer it too. Then the other person asks a question and the cycle continues. See easy," Ben said with a laugh. "It's a great way to get to know someone."

"Oh okay. We can play," Leila said with a smile.

Ben grinned. "Favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Mine's orange."

The two children continued their game of questions learning quite a bit about the other and laughing at the odd questions and answers. It wasn't until three in the afternoon when the game ended because their moms were done with their meeting. Leila stood on the porch waving goodbye to Ben as he walked down the driveway to his car with his mom.

"Bye, Leila. I had fun. We should meet again before summer's over," Ben said, waving back with a large smile.

"I-I'm going to the park with my little brother tomorrow if you want to come along," Leila said.

"Sure, that'd be great. Bye!" he said before getting in the car and driving off.

"I'm glad you had fun," Mrs. Monroe said as Leila walked back into the house. "Ben's a nice boy."

"He's a nice friend," Leila said as she headed upstairs.

"Do you want anything specific for dinner? We can go out. You're father and Simon are still at the soccer game downtown," Mrs. Monroe called out.

Leila thought for a moment. "What about the café we went to last time?"

"That sounds good. Be ready in an hour."

"Okay," Leila said before entering her room. She grabbed Beedle and the Bard and sat on her bed; flipping through the pages to find the place she had left off on earlier that day. She smiled as she thought of the fun she had today. Even though she was quiet and shy she still had fun with Ben. She wished he could hang out with her, Thorn, and the twins, but of course he wasn't a wizard. But that didn't stop her from spending at least some of the last few weeks of summer with a possible new friend.

ooOOoo

The last few weeks of summer flew by in the blink of an eye. Now Thorn was pushing her trolley through Kings Cross Station with her parents behind her. Willow was meowing at owls and other cats on trolleys that were being pushed by other kids, who were also heading for Platform 9 and 3/4.

"There's platforms 9 and 10!" Thorn exclaimed as she broke into a run towards the pillar that leads to platform 9 and 3/4.

"Thorn wait!" her dad called after her.

"What?" Thorn said, looking around. "Was I gonna run into someone?"

"You have to remember to make sure no one's looking before you go," he said with chuckle.

"Oh right," she said with a laugh. Thorn looked around twice and ran towards the pillar. She went through and like last year found herself on platform 9 and 3/4 with the Hogwarts Express in front of her and wizarding families and students moving about the platform getting ready for the departure. The smokestack from the train was billowing out as Thorn approached the luggage loading area.

"Okay, Thorn this time you're helping out with loading your luggage onto the train," Mr. Fernsby said as he and Mrs. Fernsby walked onto the platform.

"Yes dad," Thorn said.

After she was done loading her things on the train she began her search for her friends. There were many heads on the platform, all with different colored hair and skin which made it slightly difficult to find her friends. She pushed her way through the crowd in her search and a few times she bumped into people or nearly tripped close to falling face first into the concrete.

"Thorn!"

Thorn turned around to see Lee Jordan waving at her as he ran up to her.

"Lee!" Thorn said overjoyed to see her friend. "How have you been?"

"Great," he replied. "You excited to go back to Hogwarts?"

"Of course," she said. "Have you seen anyone else yet?"

"Nope only you so far," Lee said. "But we'll have no problem finding Fred and George, just look for two redhead twins blowing something up."

Thorn laughed. "I don't doubt that."

The two began the search again pushing through the crowd. They were looking around the platform and over the crowd when they heard: "Would you stop?!"

Thorn and Lee looked to their left and saw Percy Weasley yelling at the Weasley twins. It looked like the twins were trying to steal some from him or most likely sticking something on him that would cause either an explosion or some loud noise knowing the twins. Most likely a minor explosive object.

"That's the last time you tie zip my bags!"

"It's zip tie," Fred corrected.

Percy glared at him before he stomped off in a huff to go load his belongings on the train. His nose was in the air as he pushed his trolley away from the twins making them laugh.

"Not what you planned on happening was it?" Thorn said as she and Lee walked up to the twins.

"Lee! Thorn!" they cried high fiving them.

"How was your summer, Lee?" George asked.

"Pretty good, but Hogwarts will be great."

"Of course it will be, you'll be with us," Fred said, grinning cockily.

"Hello," came a small voice behind the three.

The four turned to see Leila and Cedric walking towards them.

"Hey, Leila. Hey, Cedric ," Thorn greeted the two with a smile.

"Hi, Thorn," Leila said hugging her friend.

"Hey, Thorn. How was your summer?" Cedric asked.

"Fun, but not as fun as this year will be," she said with a laugh.

Cedric and her began talking about their trips over the summer when Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett came up to the group.

"Hey, guys," Alicia said hugging Thorn and Leila.

"Looks like the whole gang's here," Angelina said.

"Yep," Thorn said.

"Let's get on the train and find our compartments," Cedric said. "I think Jacqueline had gone off earlier to find them."

"Good idea," Alicia said as she followed Lee and Angelina to the train with the others.

When everyone said their goodbyes to their families the group got into their compartments and began their journey to Hogwarts.

ooOOoo

In the Great Hall everyone was awaiting the first years to walk in and begin the sorting ceremony. Each house's table full of chatter and laughter. At the Hufflepuff table Leila was sitting with Cedric and Jacqueline at the Gryffindor table Thorn was sitting with the Weasley twins, Lee, Alicia, and Angelina. The doors then opened slowly revealing a good number of first years who walked to stand in front of the High Table. Thus began the sorting ceremony.

When all the first years were sorted Dumbledore stood up and gave his usual speech and then the banquet began. Thorn, Alicia, and Angelina were talking to a first year named Katie Bell as Fred, George, and Lee were talking away about their usual ideas for pranks.

"Are you excited to start classes here?" Angelina asked.

"Yeah," Katie said. "Which teachers do you like?" she asked, looking over at the High Table where Dumbledore and all the other teachers sat eating their food.

"Well there's Professor Flitwick," Alicia said, pointing towards the short wizard at the table. "He's pretty good."

"There's Professor McGonagall. She's Gryffindor's teacher," Thorn said, motioning to the female teacher, who was chatting with Dumbledore. "She's nice, but really strict."

"Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher," Angelina said.

"And let's not forget Snape," Fred said, joining in the girls' conversation.

"He's Slytherin's teacher," George said, pointing at the greasy black haired teacher. "Watch out, he'll take points away from Gryffindor for even the dumbest reasons."

"Really?" Katie asked, looking a bit scared.

"Yeah, so don't get on his bad side," Lee said.

"Does he even have a good side?" Fred asked, snickering.

"They would know," Angelina said to Katie. "They're the ones who get the points taken away."

For the rest of the banquet the six second years told the first year about everything they knew about Hogwarts. When the feast ended and everyone went to their common rooms they dragged themselves up the stairs to the dormitories. The girls unpacked their belongings and crawled into bed, their bellies full and all weary from the long train ride. Tomorrow would be the start of their second year.

Edit 5/17/2018

Another chapter that I erased Arnold from. Again I'm not crazy about the writing I did back in high school, but I don't have the time to edit every chapter. So from chapter 16 and any after that will be current non-high school me written chapters. I hope you enjoy the chapter nonetheless. Let me know what you think.